Yikes! Who needs a helmet?

[Starfish]

Everytime I see pants like that I just want to run up from behind, yank their pants down around their ankles and run away

Me too! That's hilarious. I find those pants one of the most ridiculous of the current fads.

Regarding helmets: There was a 12 yo local boy who was killed while using the skate park without a helmet. I work in the evenings in a location where kids come after hours to practice jumps and things, and I've talked to these kids. They all knew this boy.

One night I talked to the group of teenage boys and tried to tell them why helmets were important...that not only could they be killed like their friend, but that they might actually live through an accident and be paralyzed, missing out on X, Y, and Z all their lives (using some examples of priorities teenage boys have...trying to be relevant ).

They listened politely, and I got some laughs from my examples, but I got a lot of excuses...including that they couldn't afford a helmet. I told all of them that if they couldn't afford one, any night of the week they could come work for me for a couple hours and I would pay them by buying them a helmet. Not one has ever taken me up on it. What will it take to get some of these kids using helmets?

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

That's lightweight stuff compared to this:
http://img.inkfrog.com/pix/RobertRau...l_schreyer.jpg

[Zen]

What will it take to get some of these kids using helmets?

Nothing short of tragedy.

One of my classmates from high school became an alcoholic. When he got sober he became a triathlete. Tall, handsome, muscular he was but no more. He was hit by a car while cycling without a helmet and is now just a barely walking, barely talking shell. If there is any remnant of his old personality left he's unable to communicate it. I don't know what it's like being in that shell but I think I'd prefer death.